@doule: Welcome,

Welcome, authenticbyheart!

Here's a handy reference guide I put together for new Steemit users especially. It's a very brief introduction to the most basic elements of Steemit, which are steem, steem dollars, steem power, voting power, followers, vests and witnesses. It also includes links to some very helpful external sites. This is some of what it covers:

User statistics. Just put in your Hive account@name (external sites using the blockchain):

Steemdb (stats)
Steemd (stats)
Steemstats
SteemDollar: your vote's worth - find out how much your vote is worth, based on steem power. H/t to Hive account@rymlen
Steemnow
Steemitboard - Shows your awards - by Hive account@steemitboard

Your wallet. Steem, Steem Dollars, and Steem Power (the first post/video are from months ago, so some of the information may have changed, but they are still a very helpful introduction):

Also:

For new users:

Introducing @yourhelper - "Hive account@yourhelper will be sniffing around for top quality contents that are greatly undervalued."
Calling all Red fish and Minnows, get your blog voted by Randowhale! - by Hive account@abh12345.
List of all contests/Giveaways - Participate To Win Free Steem/SBD - Hive account@jznsamuel.
Fifty-word post contest for new users
Also:
If you are new to steemit, join the Redfish Community - by Hive account@albertvhons.

Related sites

I hope Steemit works out very well for you! And if you find this guide useful, please upvote and resteem it. You can follow me too at Hive account@doule.